Sprout Studio

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Sprout Studio (萌芽工作室)
Alias(es)	Sprout Games; Sprout Game Company
Founder	Ethan Vale, known publicly as Black Star and Old Thief
Affiliation	Independent game company; Xu Xinghai holds the remaining 20% of shares outside Sprout's 80% holding 266
Occupation/Role	Game developer, hardware developer, event organizer, film and theme-park producer
Status	Active
First Appearance	Chapter 18

Background / History

Sprout Studio was founded roughly two months before Ethan Vale described its early history. Its first game, Getting over it, cost nothing to make and earned 1.5 million yuan; the studio spent that entire amount producing Dead Cells. The revenue from Dead Cells funded its early expansion and next projects 18.

The studio initially operated from a rented floor in an outer-ring Sea City office building. By the period following its first major successes, it had formed separate teams for Hollow Knight and Bloodborne, with plans to shift the former's staff onto the latter after completion 39.

As Sprout grew, it became capable of running several projects at once. It entered a global horror-game bounty challenge partly to finance increasingly expensive productions, including large-scale games requiring greater manpower and investment 92. It also recruited personnel such as Xie Lingjiang, whom Ethan Vale personally invited to join while the studio was developing Celeste 59.

Sprout later expanded from a small studio into a major game company with its own campus, project divisions, motion-capture base, extreme-sports training facilities, employee housing, and the acquired Star Sea Films. The Red Dead Redemption team alone reportedly reached around 3,000 people 453.

Although the public continues to call it “Sprout Studio,” the company is formally known as Sprout Games or Sprout Game Company 453.

Organization and Culture

Sprout is strongly centered on Ethan Vale's creative direction. Employees regard him as the company's “lighthouse,” trusting his designs even when they initially do not understand them; outside companies have found that poaching Sprout staff does not grant access to the ideas and design philosophy that drive its projects 152 219.

The company maintains a relatively open internal culture despite Ethan Vale's centralized authority.

• Project teams may reject or rework proposed designs if the result does not meet Sprout's standards; Ethan Vale is willing to delay releases rather than promote unfinished work 498.
• Employee assessments incorporate feedback from randomly selected coworkers as well as supervisors, with extreme personal bias removed before opinions are added to personnel files 486.
• Staff assigned to a released game receive a share of that game's revenue, incentivizing long-term maintenance and support 701.
• Employees can submit personal game proposals. Li Ming received funding and approval to independently develop Palworld, even though he chose to work alone 700 702.
• The company prioritizes ability over social fluency; employees with poor social awareness can still advance through demonstrated competence 726.
• Sprout provides employees with substantial benefits, including housing-style dormitories, bonuses, breaks, and resident medical support when needed 435 436 703.

Products and Technology

Game Development

Sprout produces games across a broad range of genres and scales, from pixel-art titles to major AAA productions. Its known projects and releases include Getting over it, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, Bloodborne, Celeste, Terraria, Monster Hunter, Red Dead Redemption, Civilization, Cyberpunk 2077, Spider-Man, League of Legends, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Palworld 18 39 453 484 666 700.

The studio follows an internal promotional principle: promotional material must not misrepresent the final game. Its trailers primarily use genuine gameplay footage, and games are generally promoted only once they are near release 455 498.

Gaming Pod

Sprout independently developed a full-body gaming pod and publicly demonstrated it at its first product-launch event 322 326.

• The pod has a silver alloy, oval body measuring approximately 1.5 meters long and 1 meter wide 327.
• Its soft interior seat uses special materials to sense a player's physical state and bodily movements 327.
• Human body shape, limbs, muscles, and facial data are scanned before use 325.
• Ethan Vale stated that Sprout developed the technology itself and presented its research base to support the claim 326.
• Preorders were priced at 58,000 each and exceeded 100,000 units within seconds 331.
• Sprout donated twenty pods each to major hospitals for treatment of a special condition 331.

Handheld Platform and Peripherals

Sprout operates a handheld platform with exclusive titles, making it particularly vulnerable to the flash-cartridge piracy incident 667.

• The company sells character-themed peripherals and custom keycaps 611.
• It distributes Amiibo-style cards that can provide daily in-game item drops through handheld-controller recognition 263.
• Cheating can result in comprehensive bans covering the player's account, identity information, IP, device codes, and motherboard access across Sprout games 242.
• To address excessive play, Sprout tracks recent gameplay time and sends a one-month anti-addiction gift package when abnormal data is detected 263.

Player and Community Initiatives

Sprout actively incorporates player participation into development and community activities.

• It accepts player suggestions, including broad concept submissions for future games and related feature requests 270.
• It permits player-created mods and assets, with Zhou Peng's Pixel Studio reviewing submissions for compliance 260.
• The studio funds large player world-building projects and uses a compensation system based on project scale and contributions 260 304.
• Fan-made derivative works, including character models and 3D-printed creations, are encouraged rather than prohibited 553.
• Its player-maintained game encyclopedia is reviewed for accuracy by Sprout rather than written entirely by the company 248.
• Developer Insider broadcasts use masked staff and voice changers so answers represent Sprout collectively rather than any one employee 439.
• The official account has a playful public presence, including replying to Ethan Vale's horror-game announcement with: “You are the horror!” 93.

Facilities, Exhibitions and Park Projects

Sprout's company complex is located on the outskirts of the city and includes residential, retail, entertainment, gym, park, and shuttle-bus facilities. Registered visitors are permitted to explore its public and residential areas 542.

The complex is designed to change its appearance alongside new releases. Sprout uses holographic equipment and physical alterations to transform the environment into themes such as Cyberpunk, while also using the complex as a pilot project for its future theme park 542 550.

At the game expo, Sprout's central booth is marked by a holographic giant tree emerging from its sprouting-bud emblem. Each leaf represents characters, creatures, and worlds from its games 371 378.

• Sprout declined additional exhibition booths at the Neon Game Expo so smaller studios would not lose space, despite being allotted twenty booths 117.
• It allows participating companies to submit their own booth blueprints and undertakes to realize their designs 371.
• The company recruited streamers and crafting creators to build a future game museum capable of recreating game scenes, weapons, and props 316.
• Sprout Park uses performers selected for acting ability to portray game characters and had every attraction professionally safety-inspected before opening 693.
• Following an opening delay caused by an accident, Sprout released a major hero-themed trailer as an apology gesture to players 696.

Esports and Extreme Sports

Sprout invests heavily in esports and real-world extreme sports.

• It allocated 50 million yuan for an esports tournament and restricted participation to players aged 18 or older 428.
• Shark Live purchased three years of exclusive broadcast rights in a deal valued at 10 billion yuan 429.
• Championship teams can create exclusive hero skins, animations, and recall effects, while sharing in associated skin revenue 474.
• Through Riders Republic Media, Sprout supports eligible extreme athletes with funding, professional filming resources, and media production 370.
• It signed extreme athlete Deng Qi and funded his professional training after recognizing his potential 371.
• Sprout sponsored the Stratosphere Project, an ultra-high-altitude skydive intended to break the sound barrier in free fall 436.

Relationships

• Ethan Vale / Black Star / Old Thief — Founder, chief designer, and central decision-maker; his ideas define Sprout's creative direction 31 219.
• Xu Xinghai — Shareholder holding 20% of the company; works closely with Ethan Vale on operations and promotion 266 542.
• Song Shan — Senior staff member and frequent collaborator with Ethan Vale; later received lead-designer billing ahead of Ethan Vale on a project 352 428.
• Carter — Steam's Great Xia regional representative; took an early interest in Sprout's finances and development plans 18.
• Star Sea Films — Film company acquired by Sprout; renders promotional material and supports the studio's film and animation projects 225 453.
• EA and Ubisoft — Partner studios that purchased Sprout game-production concepts and followed Ethan Vale's guidance during development 484.
• 2K Games — Joined Sprout and became the 2K branch of Sprout Game Company 490.
• Wanda — Partner in Sprout's theme-park development; provides construction support and profit-sharing arrangements in exchange for character-image rights 510 542.
• Koren — Hacker who created flash cartridges for pirating Sprout's games; Ethan Vale later hired him for the information-security department 670 671 673.
• Mike — Former Disney park executive who joined Sprout Park after recognizing its potential; Ethan Vale appointed him to a position with major management authority 705 706.
• Deng Qi and Linlin — Extreme-sports partners supported by Sprout through training, facilities, and long-term challenge projects 371 436.

Notable Quotes

“You are the horror!” — Sprout Studio's reply to Ethan Vale's announcement that he would make a horror game 93

“Come create! Sprout Studio will pay for your dreams!” 260